This invention generally relates to the art of electrical connectors and, particularly, to a shielded electrical connector for mounting in a cut-out portion of a printed circuit board.
Generally, a shielded electrical connector includes some form of dielectric housing mounting a plurality of conductive terminals. The housing may be molded of plastic material, for instance. In order to protect the circuitry on the board, upon which the connector is attached, from electromagnetic interference (EMI) and/or radio frequency interference (RFI), the connector housing may be surrounded by a metal shield or shell. For instance, the shield may be stamped and formed of conductive sheet metal material. When the connector is mounted on a printed circuit board, the external shield typically is grounded to appropriate grounding circuit traces on the circuit board. A typical shielded electrical connector of this type is a modular jack connector which receives a mating modular jack plug.
When a modular jack connector, for instance, is mounted onto the top surface of a printed circuit board, the external metal shield typically covers the top and four sides of the connector housing, with an opening in the shield at the front side or mating face of the connector for receiving the mating modular jack plug. The shield does not cover the bottom of the connector housing, because protection is provided by the bottom wall of the housing particularly in conjunction with the printed circuit board, itself. With the ever-increasing miniaturization of electronic circuitry with which such connectors are employed, the overall size of the connectors, particularly the height of the connectors, continues to be reduced. One miniaturizing design is to mount the connector in a cut-out portion of the printed circuit board. However, this causes problems in providing shielding for the bottom of the connector. Heretofore, the stamped and formed metal shield has been provided with a bottom wall portion coincident with the cut-out portion of the printed circuit board. The bottom wall of the shield may be insertable into a slot in the bottom of the connector housing. Unfortunately, such tab/slot arrangements cause problems because the tabs can easily slip out of the slots, and the bottom wall of the shield can easily move away from the housing, such as if the bottom wall is caught on an extraneous object. In addition, the tabs can slip out of the slots if a force is placed on the bottom wall of the shield causing the wall to bow. To prevent such bowing, raised support ribs have been added to the connector housing at the edges of an opening in the bottom wall of the housing. Unfortunately, such support ribs result in increasing the dimensions of the connector housing. The present invention is directed to solving this myriad of problems in shielding an electrical connector mounted in a cut-out portion of a printed circuit board.
An object, therefore, of the invention is to provide a new and improved shielded electrical connector for mounting on a printed circuit board.
Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved connector of the character described for mounting at least partially in a cut-out portion of the printed circuit board.
In the exemplary embodiment of the invention, the connector includes a dielectric housing have a bottom surface for mounting on the printed circuit board and a front mating face. A plug-insertion cavity is formed in the housing communicating with an opening at the front mating face for receiving a complementary mating plug connector. The cavity has an opening through a bottom wall of the housing coincident with the cut-out portion of the printed circuit board. A latch projection extends from the housing near the opening in the bottom wall thereof. A metal shield is mounted on the dielectric housing and has a front plate portion juxtaposed over the front mating face of the housing. A bottom plate portion is aligned with the opening in the bottom wall of the housing. The front plate portion has a plug-insertion opening aligned with the opening at the front mating face of the housing. The bottom plate portion has a latch aperture for embracing the latch projection of the housing.
As disclosed herein, the bottom plate portion of the metal shield is sized to substantially close the opening in the bottom wall of the housing. The bottom plate portion is cantilevered rearwardly from a bottom edge of the front plate portion. The latch projection is located at a rear end of the opening in the bottom wall of the housing, and the latch aperture is located at a free rear end of the bottom plate portion of the shield. The free end of the bottom plate portion is positioned in a slot in the housing at the rear end of the opening in the bottom wall of the housing.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.